Are you ready for some big news? In 2018, I’ll be teaching on a Craft Cruise to Denmark, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Norway. Whoo hoo! Just check out these ports of call:
Can you tell that I’m excited? That’s because I’ll be teaching only on days when we’re at sea. When we’re in port, the extra-special, knitter-specific shore excursions will include meet-ups with local artists, and visits to yarn shops, dye houses, heritage sites, and a working croft. You can tell that Craft Cruises knows how to throw a party!
The dates are May 20 through June 3, 2018. Are you free then? Want to know more? See the Craft Cruises website for more details.
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You’ve seen this book before, yes?
Since Charts Made Simple first came out in 2010, it’s been through three printings. And now that my stock is running low again, I’m looking at reprinting options... but this time around, I’m considering print on demand rather than traditional offset printing.
The differences to you, dear reader, should be pretty minimal. If you look closely at the photo above, you can see the most noticeable one: The book on the bottom, printed in 2012 and shuttled from warehouse to warehouse over the years, has rounded corners. The book on top, printed last week as a print-on-demand proof copy, does not.
Truthfully? Silly as it sounds, I’m going to miss those rounded corners, as I always imagined they encouraged knitters to carry the book around with them in their knitting bags. But at this point in the book’s lifetime, print on demand makes economic sense. And if I have to let go of the rounded corners to make that happen, so be it. I hope you all understand.
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Charts Made Simple teaches you to read charts, and why is that important? So you can savor books like this one:
The title is Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible: 260 Exquisite Designs by Hitomi Shida, and I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy. Believe me when I say that Hitomi Shida designs the most delicious stitch patterns. All are charted, of course, using the clear and direct symbols that are standard in Japan. So any new book by Hitomi Shida is cause for excitement – but this book get bonus points: It contains small projects that let you practice working with these amazing stitch patterns, and Gayle Roehm translated the book into English. Yay!
The Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible is due out in October, but you can pre-order now – like I already did!
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Lately I’ve been in a knitting slump. I just haven’t felt like knitting – not on any of my WIPs or UFOs, not even on anything new. It’s odd, but I’m not panicking yet, as I know my knitting mojo will return eventually.
In the meantime, I resurrected a quilt project that had stalled. I managed to finish piecing this quilt top:
The basic quilt block is a clever design that I learned in Simple to Stunning: Disappearing Blocks with Pre-Cuts. Experienced quilters will notice that the color scheme couldn’t be more boring, and the straight seams couldn’t be any easier. But as a novice quilter, I’m still pretty pleased. I got a ton of practice sewing perfect points. (Well, okay, the first couple blocks weren’t perfect.) And as soon as I finish the actual quilting, I’ll have a nice throw.
It’s been handy to be able to turn to quilting during my current knitting slump. And it’s been fun to practice new skills. But I’ll tell you what I miss about knitting: its portability. Quilting is a little tough to do while watching a movie, or when on a road trip! |
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At the Loopy Ewe Fall Fling this October, I’ll be giving a talk on Thursday night (topic TBD!), and teaching Beginning Brioche and Charts Made Essential on Friday and Saturday. I always look forward to teaching at a Fling: super-nice people, a chance to shop for drool-worthy yarn and fabric at The Loopy Ewe, and an unbelievable dessert reception.
Alas, sign-ups for this year’s Fall Fling have already closed. But I encourage you to start following The Loopy Ewe on their blog, on Ravelry, or on Facebook, to get notified of future Flings and other top-notch events.
And, as always, you can check out all my upcoming teaching gigs on my website.
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World Wide Knit in Public Day is June 10. Will you be participating? My local KIP event is being hosted by Stash at our Saturday Farmer’s Market. I’ll need to get my shopping done before I can sit down for any knitting!
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